The UK's new emissions reduction plan is expected to arrive at "the end of the year", energy and climate change secretary Amber Rudd told business leaders yesterday.
Speaking at an Aldersgate Group event on building on the momentum created by the Paris climate change summit, Rudd said the UK's first priority is to continue to meet its own carbon commitments and reduce emissions in the most cost-effective way.
"I am clear that we must meet our obligations, but I am equally clear that this must not be at the expense of energy security, or by piling all the pain onto consumers," she said. "We have to be pragmatic, and we have to take the public with us."
However, Rudd again acknowledged there was a need for new policies to ensure the UK meets its post-2020 carbon targets and said the government will give the "full details" of a new "emissions reduction plan" by the end of the year. She added that the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) was already working with other departments on the new strategy.
The new approach is expected to build on the government's plans for a switch from coal to gas in the power sector, a new fleet of nuclear power stations, and increased investment in renewables capacity. But Rudd argued new thinking is still needed in areas such as energy efficiency, greener heat, reducing industrial emissions and transport, where she admitted progress so far has been "slow".
The comments will further fuel hopes that the government will come forward with more ambitious climate policies during this parliament. But Rudd stopped short of confirming any new policies will be rolled out imminently.
A key area of focus in 2016 will instead be "light[ing] the fire in innovation" of both the green technology and finance sectors, she said, arguing the recent doubling of her department's R&D budget to £500m would help support those businesses developing new clean technologies.
"We don't have all the answers to decarbonisation today," said Rudd. "We must develop technologies that are both green and cheap."
Rudd also indicated the government will be looking at policies to support expansion of the growing energy storage sector. "We need to do more on storage regulation, we're aware of it," she said. "We are going to be working to regulate it in a way that does give the incentives that was needed, because storage is a very important part of how we're going to manage our low carbon future."
Her comments came just hours after Prime Minister David Cameron reiterated his commitment to ensuring the UK meets its future carbon targets and praised efforts to date that led to a record reduction in emissions and a surge in clean tech investment last year. But he also dismissed criticism of climate policies from the likes of the CBI as "nonsense", rejecting allegations that recent changes to energy policy have undermined clean tech investor confidence.
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